Curtain heading tape

ABSTRACT

A heading tape for a curtain of the type which has part of the curtain extending upwardly from the suspension hooks. The curtain heading tape provided by the present invention prevents the upwardly extending part of the curtain from folding downwardly and resulting in an unsightly appearance. The curtain heading tape comprises core yarn disposed weft wise to give transverse stiffness to the tape, at least two spaced apart tubes forming a part of the tape and disposed warp-wise thereof for accommodating draw cords at intervals along said tape. The tubes include a continuous filament yarn in the warp-wise direction, and the continuous filament warp yarn is of sufficient stiffness to stiffen in the warpwise direction at least those parts of the tubes accommodating draw cords.

United States Patent 1191 Wood et al.

[ Mar. 26, 1974 [73] Assignee: Thomas French 8: Sons Limited, Manchester, England Filed: Oct. 6, 1972 Appl. No.: 295,458

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 21, 1971 Great Britain 48885/71 us. c1. 139/387 A 1m. 01 D03d 3/02 Field of Search 139/384 R, 387 R, 387 A,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,529.634 9/1970 Griffiths et al .1 139/387 A 3,665,977 5/1972 Heldt 139/387 A Primary ExaminerI-lenry S. Jaudon Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James E. Nilles [5 7] ABSTRACT A heading tape for a curtain of the type which has part of the curtain extending upwardly from the suspension hooks. The curtain heading tape provided by the present invention prevents the upwardly extending part of the curtain from folding downwardly and resulting in an unsightly appearance. The curtain heading tape comprises core yarn disposed weft wise to give transverse stiffness to the tape, at least two spaced apart tubes forming a 55kt of the tape and (Ksposed warp-wise thereof for accommodating draw cords at intervals along said tape. The tubes include a continuous filament yarn in the warp-wise direction, and the continuous filament warp yarn is of sufficient stiffness to stiffen in the warpwise direction at least those parts of the tubes accommodating draw cords.

14 Claims, '7 Drawing Figures Q agar/ 13 .5

CURTAIN READING TAPE This invention relates to curtain heading tapes.

in of the present trends in the hanging of curtains is to dispense with pelmets and hang the curtains iin such a way that a part of the curtains extends upwardly from their suspension hooks. When curtains are hung in this way the upwardly extending part tends to fold and bend downwardly creating an unsightly appearance.

A recent proposal for dealing with the above mentioned problem involves the use of a curtain heading tape which is stiffened in the transverse direction by means of a stiff monofilament yarn disposed in the tape in the weftwise direction. Such monofilament yarn is prevented from slipping relative to the warp either by means of an additional filler weft or, more preferably by means of an additional yarn wound on said monofilament yarn. The arrangement of stiff monofilament yarn having an additional yarn wound thereon is termed core yarn and will be referred to as such herein. The term core yarn is also to be understood to include an arrangement including more than one monofilament laid side by side having an additional yarn wound thereon.

Such stiffened tapes do indeed deal with the problem of downward folding of the upper edge of a curtain. However it is frequently desired to arrange a curtain such that a series of spaced apart pleats are formed. In such cases a curtain heading tape is used which includes draw cords in the warpwise direction. The draw cords are held between the stiff monofilament weft and filler weft or in tubes on the body of a tape having no filler weft and are arranged such that when the draw cords are tightened the tape, and hence the curtain attached to it, is gathered into a number of groups of pleats separated by unpleated portions. While these unpleated portions of the tape have transverse stiffness due to the monofilaments in the wefts they have very little longitudinal stiffness and hence may be ruched when the draw cords are tightened thus marring the smooth appearance of the unpleated portion of the curtain. Such ruching of the unpleated portion may also occur in use when the curtains are drawn.

The present invention has been made from a consideration of this problem.

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a curtain heading tape comprising core yarn (as herein defined) disposed weft wise to give transverse stiffness to the tape, at least two spaced-apart tubes forming a part of the tape and disposed warpwise thereof, for accommodating draw cords, at intervals along said tape, said tubes and only said tubes including a continuous filament yarn in the warpwise direction, said continuous filament warp yarn being of sufficient stiffness to stiffen in the warpwise direction at least those parts of the tubes accommodating draw cords.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a curtain heading tape comprising stiff continuous filament yarn disposed weftwise and an additional filler weft to prevent slippage of said continuous filament weft relative to the warp, at least two draw cords being located warpwise and passing at intervals along said tape, between the continuous filament weft and the filler weft, a continuous filament yarn being provided warpwise in said tape on one or both sides of the draw cords and only at those sites, said continuous filament warp yarn being of sufficient stiffness to stiffen in the warpwise direction the said intervals in the tape.

The stiff continuous filament warp yarn which may be used will preferably be nylon or polyester which may be cabled but which is preferably in the form of core yarn. Any other continuous filament yarn, cabled otherwise, may however be employed such as continuous filament yarns of suitable plastics material, cabled rayon or even metal wires (which in this specification are included within the term continuous filament yarn).

In accordance with the invention the warpwise stiff continuous filament yarn is only provided in the tape on one or both sides of the draw cords, that is above and/or below the draw cords to provide the required longitudinal stiffness. If such continuous monofilaments are provided warpwise in other parts of the tape or across the entire width the resultant longitudinal stiffness of the tape is too great so that such a tape would not readily allow a curtain used therewith to be opened or drawn to the side of window or the like and its stiffness would constantly urge the curtain back towards the closed position.

In order to produce pleats in a curtain it has previously been the practice as indicated above to tighten the draw cords in the curtain heading tape so that the tape and the curtain attached to the tape is gathered, at predetermined sites, into pleats. Pleats formed in this way are of parallel configuration, at least over that part of the curtain overlying the head tape. More recently it has been proposed to provide pleats which fan outwardly, i.e., non-parallel pleats, and to accomplish this it is necessary to gather the tape unequally top and bottom thereof at the sites where pleats are required. Heretofore, such fan shaped pleats have been formed by using special curtain hooks having fan-wise extending fingers which engage in pockets in the tape to gather one edge of the tape more tightly than the opposite edge at that particular place. It has been found that the appearance of such fanwise pleats, particularly on long curtains, is enhanced when the tape is gathered or pinched at said one edge as tightly as possible. There is however a limit to gathering at said one edge which is governed by the presence of the hook fingers which form a non-compressible bulky mass.

According to an advantageous feature of the invention, the intervals along the tape, over which the tubes contain the draw cords, or through which the draw cords pass between continuous filament weft and filler weft, are not at the opposite edges of the tape, that is to say the tubes are inset from the extreme edges of the tape. In addition the tubes, or at least some of them, are not in alignment across the width of the tape. With this arrangement, and with at least some of the .floating portions of one cord offset from the corresponding floating portions of the other cord when the draw cords are tightened one edge, generally the lower edge, of the tape will be pinched or pleated to a greater extent than the other edge.

The fan shape at the top edge and the pinch at the bottom edge of the tape may be increased or decreased by lengthening or shortening the binding in portion between the cord leaps which form the pleats.

The shorter the binding in portions between pleats at the base of the pleats the tighter the pinch. The depth of the pleats may be increased or decreased by lengthening or shortening the cord leap.

Advantageously the edge of the tape, which is to constitute the lower edge, has a wider selvedge than the other edge, a part of-said wider selvedge being intended to extend downwardly from the lower stitching line binding the tape to a curtain. It has been found that with such an arrangement the shaping of the pleats formed in the curtain is improved. The difference in size between the upper and lower selvedges may depend upon the overall width of the tape but in general the lower selvedge edge may be up to three-fourths inch, preferably one-half inch wider than the upper selvedge edge.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a rear face view of a short length of one form of curtain heading tape in the flat;

FIG. 2 is a rear face view of the piece of tape of FIG. 1 as it would be in use and FIGS. 3A to 3E together show a cross section through the weft of the repeat pattern of the tape of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings the curtain heading tape comprises a body or portion 11 on one side of which is superimposed a narrower pocket forming portion 12 bound thereto at intervals 14 in a known manner to form a series of pockets 16 for curtain hooks. The curtain heading tape is provided with core yarn weftwise in the body 11, the pockets having core yarn or any other suitable textile yarn in the weft.

Continuous tubes 18, are woven into the body and extend warpwise one on either side of the narrower tape 12. Each of these tubes includes fourteen warp threads of core yarn so that the tubes have stiffness in the warpwise direction. Draw cords 22, 24 pass, at intervals through tubes 18 and 20 respectively but the floating portions of cord 22 are assymmetric relative to the floating portions of cord 24 as will now be described.

As can be seen most clearly in FIG. 1 and working from left to right cord 22 floats over a length equivalent to three pockets 30, 31 32 passes within the tube 18 for the length of the next pocket, 33 floats for the length of the next three pockets 34, 35 and 36, passes within the tube over the length of the next pocket 37 and floats for a third time over the length of the next three succeeding pockets 38, 39 and 40.

Cord 24 on the other hand floats across half the length of pocket 30, over the lengths of pocket 31 and 32 and across half the length of pocket 33. That is to say the first described floating portion of cord 22 corresponds to that of cord 24 except that the corresponding floating portion of cord 24 is displaced to the right (as viewed in the drawing) by half a pocket length.

Cord 24 thereafter passes within tube 20 over a length equivalent to half of the pocket 33 whereafter cord 24 floats over the lengths of pockets 34, 35 and 36 that is in the same way as the central floating portion of cord 22. After passing through tube 20 for a length equivalent to one half of pocket 37 cord 24 floats across the other half length of pocket 37, across the lengths of pockets 38 and 39 across half the length of pocket 40, that is equivalent to the last described floating portion of cord 24 but displaced to the left (as viewed in the drawing) by half a pocket length.

When the draw cords 22 and 24 are tightened the curtain heading tape is pleated in a fan wise fashion as in the upper part by cord 22.

It will be understood that the arrangement of cords described with reference to FIG. 1 is repeated at intervals along the tape so as to produce a series of spaced apart fan-shaped pleats having unpleated portions there between. The provision of core yarn to form the tubes 18 and 20 provides sufficient stiffness to prevent the unpleated portions from ruching when the draw cords are tightened to form the pleats.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A to 3E the tape of FIG. 1 is woven in a loom using ten shafts numbered 1 to 10 and arranged as follows:

No. 1 carries the cord 22;

No. 2 carries the cord 24;

Nos. 3,4,5 and 6 carry the core yarn warp threads for the tubes 18 and 20;

Nos. 7 and 8 carry the warp threads for binding tape 12 to the body to form the pockets and Nos. 9 and 10 are for the body 11 itself.

The lifts for the various shafts are clearly shown in FIGS. 3A to 3B and it can further be clearly seen how the first and third floating portions of cord 24 are displaced relative to the corresponding floating portions of cord 22.

FIGS. 3A to 3E show, the shedding of the warp yarns by continuous lines and the wefts by dots. The upper row A represents the weft for the pockets and the lower row B the weft for the body. A description of FIGS. 3A to 3E will now be given, taking each shaft movement separately. It will thus be seen that Shaft No. 1 which carries the draw cord 22 is shed so that the cord weaves one up and one down with the body weft for 16 picks and then remains up from pick 17 to pick 61 whereafter it is moved to weave the cord one up and one down from pick 62 to pick 76. At pick 77 the shaft is up and the cord floats from this pick to pick 121 then to be shed to weave one up and one down-for picks 122 to pick 136. At pick 137 the shaft is raised to cause the cord to float over picks 138 to pick 181. At pick 182 the shaft is lowered and is then moved to shed the cord one up and one down until pick 300 whereupon the cycle recommences at pick number one.

Shaft No. 2 which carries the draw cord 24 is shed so that the cord weaves one up and one down with the body weft from pick one to pick 24 whereupon, eight picks after cord 22 it floats from pick 25 to pick 69, that is eight picks after the commencement of the weaving of cord 22. The cord 24 is then woven one up and one down from pick (when the shaft is down) to pick 76, that is the shaft is raised to cause the cord to float at the same time as cord 22 starts to float at pick 77. The cord 24 floats over the body up to pick 121, that is to the same pick as cord 22, whereafter from pick 122 to pick 128 it is woven one up and one down with the body. At pick 129 (that is eight picks before cord 22 starts again to float) the cord 24 is caused again to float over the body until pick 173 whereupon at pick 174 it commences to be woven one up and one down with the body up to pick 300 whereupon its weaving cycle recommences.

It will be seen from the description set out above and FIGS. 3A to 3E that the cords 22 and 24 float together over picks 77 to I21 and that their respective floats commence and terminate in a staggered manner at either side of this group of picks. The result of this manner of weaving is seen clearly in FIG. 1 which illustrates diagrammatically the manner in which the cords float.

Shaft Nos. 3 to 6 are moved to shed their warp yarns one up and three down throughout the whole of the 300 picks to form the tubes in which the cords are contained. Each of these shafts serves to shed two groups of fourteen warp yarns, that is one group for the tube containing cord 22 and a second group for the tube containing cord 24. As can be seen, starting with shaft 3, the warp lies below the weft of the body for picks one to three and then above the weft for pick four and so Shaft No. 4 causes its warp to lie below the body weft at pick one and then above it for the next three picks and so on.

Shaft No. 5 causes its warp to lie below the body weft for pick one, above it for pick two and below it for picks three to five and then continues with the three and one shedding.

I Shaft No. 6 causes its warp to lie above the body weft for picks one and two, below it for pick three and above it for picks four to six and then continues with the three and one shedding.

During the actual weaving of the tube therefrom, during any four picks, three of the four warps are grouped together either above or below the weft whilst the fourth is either below or above the weft. Thus starting with pick one warp on shaft six is the only one above the weft; at the second pick warp of shaft six remains above the weft and is grouped with warps of shafts four and five, leaving only warp on shaft three below the weft. At the third pick the warp of shaft four remains above the weft whilst the warps of shafts three, five and six are below the weft. At the third pick the warp of shaft four remains above the weft whilst the warps of shafts three, five and six are below the weft. At the fourth pick the warp of shaft four remains above the weft and the warps of shafts three and six are lifted above the weft to leave only the warp of shaft five below the weft. The cycle then repeats continuously to form the tubes in which the cords are located.

FIGS. 3A to 3E show where necessary both of. the wefts A and B. As can be seen, shafts Nos. 7 and 8 carry the warp yarn for the pocket forming tape 12. Starting from pick one shaft 7 weaves one up and one down up to pick with the pocket weft A only. At pick sixteen the shaft moves to weave its warps with the body weft B, that is to bind an edge of a pocket to the body for one pick from pick 17 to pick 45 the warp of shaft No. 7 weaves one up and one down with the pocket weft B. Thereafter for the remainder. of the 300 picks the warp of this shaft weaves with the pocket weft A only for groups of 29 picks and then with the body weft B for one pick.

Starting from pick number one the warp of shaft No. 8 is woven with the body weft B for this pick only and then with the pocket weft A for picks two to 30. This warp is therefore also woven for 29 picks with the pocket weft A followed by being woven with the body weft B for one pick.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the pocket width is equal to fourteen picks and that the single pick binding of the pocket tape to the body is alternatively achieved by binding at one pocket edge with the warp of one of the shafts and then at the opposite edge of this pocket with warp from the other shaft.

The body fabric is woven continuously using shafts Nos. 9 and 10 to produce a one-and-one plain weave fabric.

The invention is not restricted to the above described embodiment many variations being possible Without departing from the scope thereof. Thus the invention is applicable to narrow widths of curtain heading tape but is particularly advantageous when employed with wide tape. Further the tape may be of the kind which has pockets across the width thereof in a staggered or other array. Additionally, rayon or metallic warp yarn may be used in substitution for the nylon or polester yarn referred to above.

Any suitable loom may be used to make tape according to the invention including looms having a weft inserter. In that latter case a weft locking yarn is provided in the normal way.

It will also be appreciated that pocket widths other than those described may be woven by alteration of the shedding of shafts 7 and 8 and that a body fabric of a weave other than plain one and one can be used.

We claim:

1. A two layer woven curtain heading tape comprising on one layer a body portion and on the other layer a pocket portion, said body portion being formed of warp and weft, said weft comprising a core yarn, said body portion including at least two spaced parallel tubes disposed in said warp wise direction and having a draw cord disposed therein, said tubes being formed by weaving said weft with continuous filament warp yarns disposed in the area of said tubes, said continuous filament yarns being of sufficient number and stiffness to stiffen the body portion in the area of the tubes.

2. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is selected from the group consisting of nylon, polyester or rayon yarn.

3. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 2 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is cabled.

4. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is metallic.

5. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the said continuous filament yarns are provided in the tape on one side of each of the draw cords to provide the required longitudinal stiffness.

6. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the draw cords exit said tubes at intervals and float along one side of the body portion, said floating portions of one cord being offset relative to corresponding floating portions of the other cord so that when the tape is pleated, fan shaped groups of pleats are formed at spaced intervals therealong due to offsetting of the floating portions of the cords which latter serves, in use, to cause one edge region of the tape to be pinched or pleated to a greater extent than the opposite edge region of the tape.

7. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the tube parallel to one edge of the tape is inset to a greater extent from that edge of the tape than the other tube is inset from its adjacent edge of the tape.

8. A two layer woven curtain heading tape comprising on one layer a body portion and on the other layer a pocket forming portion, said body portion being formed of warp and weft, said body being of two-ply construction and having stiff continuous filament weft yarn disposed in one ply and a filler weft disposed in the other ply, said body portion including at least two spaced parallel tubes disposed in said warp wise direction in the body, and each having a draw cord disposed therein, said tubes being formed by weaving said weft with continuous filament warp yarns disposed in the area of said tubes, said continuous filament yarns being of sufficient number and stiffness to stiffen the body portion in the area of the tubes.

9. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the continuous filament yarn is selected from the group consisting of nylon, polyester or rayon yarn.

10. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 9 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is cabled.

11. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is metallic.

12. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the said continuous filament yarns are provided in the tape on one side of each of the draw cords to provide the required longitudinal stiffness.

13. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the draw cords exit said tubes at intervals and float along one side of the body portion, said floating portions of one cord being offset relative to corresponding floating portions of the other cord so that when the tape is pleated, fan shaped groups of pleats are formed at spaced intervals therealong due to offsetting of the floating portions of the cords which latter serves, in use, to cause one edge region of the tape to be pinched or pleated to a greater extent than the 0pposite edge region of the tape.

14. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the tube parallel to one edge of the tape is inset to a greater extent from that edge of the tape than the other tube is inset from its adjacent edge of the tape. 

1. A two layer woven curtain heading tape comprising on one layer a body portion and on the other layer a pocket portion, said body portion being formed of warp and weft, said weft comprising a core yarn, said body portion including at least two spAced parallel tubes disposed in said warp wise direction and having a draw cord disposed therein, said tubes being formed by weaving said weft with continuous filament warp yarns disposed in the area of said tubes, said continuous filament yarns being of sufficient number and stiffness to stiffen the body portion in the area of the tubes.
 2. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is selected from the group consisting of nylon, polyester or rayon yarn.
 3. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 2 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is cabled.
 4. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is metallic.
 5. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the said continuous filament yarns are provided in the tape on one side of each of the draw cords to provide the required longitudinal stiffness.
 6. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the draw cords exit said tubes at intervals and float along one side of the body portion, said floating portions of one cord being offset relative to corresponding floating portions of the other cord so that when the tape is pleated, fan shaped groups of pleats are formed at spaced intervals therealong due to offsetting of the floating portions of the cords which latter serves, in use, to cause one edge region of the tape to be pinched or pleated to a greater extent than the opposite edge region of the tape.
 7. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 1 in which the tube parallel to one edge of the tape is inset to a greater extent from that edge of the tape than the other tube is inset from its adjacent edge of the tape.
 8. A two layer woven curtain heading tape comprising on one layer a body portion and on the other layer a pocket forming portion, said body portion being formed of warp and weft, said body being of two-ply construction and having stiff continuous filament weft yarn disposed in one ply and a filler weft disposed in the other ply, said body portion including at least two spaced parallel tubes disposed in said warp wise direction in the body, and each having a draw cord disposed therein, said tubes being formed by weaving said weft with continuous filament warp yarns disposed in the area of said tubes, said continuous filament yarns being of sufficient number and stiffness to stiffen the body portion in the area of the tubes.
 9. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the continuous filament yarn is selected from the group consisting of nylon, polyester or rayon yarn.
 10. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 9 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is cabled.
 11. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the continuous filament warp yarn is metallic.
 12. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the said continuous filament yarns are provided in the tape on one side of each of the draw cords to provide the required longitudinal stiffness.
 13. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the draw cords exit said tubes at intervals and float along one side of the body portion, said floating portions of one cord being offset relative to corresponding floating portions of the other cord so that when the tape is pleated, fan shaped groups of pleats are formed at spaced intervals therealong due to offsetting of the floating portions of the cords which latter serves, in use, to cause one edge region of the tape to be pinched or pleated to a greater extent than the opposite edge region of the tape.
 14. A curtain heading tape as claimed in claim 8 in which the tube parallel to one edge of the tape is inset to a greater extent from that edge of the tape than the other tube is inset from its adjacent edge of the tape. 